[Patternfly] Suggestion: Error-tolerant nested dropdowns

[Ron Smeral]

Hi all,

I've recently stumbled upon this UX improvement of nested dropdowns: introduce tolerance to opening of nested dropdowns. E.g. Google Chrome (using delay) or Amazon (using clever maths) implement this.

Best explained visually, e.g. here:
https://css-tricks.com/dropdown-menus-with-more-forgiving-mouse-movement-paths/

Or in words:
Traditionally (without tolerance), to select an item in a nested dropdown, the user needs to go through a narrow single-item-wide corridor to arrive at the first item of the nested dropdown and then select another item in there - rectangular path, two movements.
With tolerance, the user can make a direct path between the current item and a nested item, even crossing other main dropdown items, which in the traditional model, would hide the nested dropdown.

Formally, this improvement follows the Fitt's law by decreasing the distance and increasing the target size.

Do you think it would make sense to suggest this as part of the guidelines?


Thanks.

Ron

-- 
Ron Smeral
Technical Writer, FeedHenry
Red Hat
Brno